State Anthem of the Russian Federation
The State Anthem of the Russian Federation (Russian: Госуда́рственный гимн Росси́йской Федера́ции, tr. Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii; IPA: ˈɡʲimn rɐˈsʲijskoj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨj) is the name of the official national anthem of Russia. Its musical composition and lyrics were adopted from the National Anthem of the Soviet Union, composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and lyricists Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan. The Soviet anthem was used from 1944, replacing "The Internationale" with a more Russocentric song. The anthem had no lyrics after 1956, due to the original lyrics having references to former leader Joseph Stalin. New lyrics were introduced in 1977 by Mikhalkov with lyrics placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism. The Russian SFSR was the only republic of the USSR without its own anthem, although most republics within the federation did have anthems of their own. The lyric-free "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya", composed by Mikhail Glinka, was officially adopted in 1990 by the Supreme Soviet of Russia4 and confirmed in 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, by President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin. The government sponsored contests to create lyrics for the unpopular anthem because of its inability to inspire Russian athletes during international competitions. None of the entries were adopted, resulting in President Vladimir Putin's restoration of the Soviet anthem. The government sponsored a contest to find lyrics, eventually settling upon a composition by Mikhalkov; according to the government, the lyrics were selected to evoke and eulogize the history and traditions of Russia. The new anthem was adopted in late 2000, and became the second anthem used by Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Public perception of the anthem is mixed among Russians. The anthem reminds some of the best days of Russia and past sacrifices, while it reminds others of the violence that occurred under the rule of Stalin. The Russian government maintains that the anthem is a symbol of the unity of the people, and that it respects the past. A 2009 poll showed that 56% of respondents felt proud when hearing the anthem, and that 81% liked it. Historic anthems Before "Molitva russkikh" ("The Prayer of the Russians") was chosen as the national anthem of Imperial Russia in 1816, various church hymns and military marches were used to honor the country and the Tsars. Songs used include "Grom pobedy, razdavaysya!" (Let the thunder of victory sound) and "Kol slaven" ("How Glorious Is Our Lord"). "Molitva russkikh" was adopted around 1816, and used lyrics by Vasily Zhukovsky set to the music of the British anthem, "God Save the King". Russia's anthem was also influenced by the anthems of France and the Netherlands, and by the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!". In 1833, Zhukovsky was asked to set lyrics to a musical composition by Prince Alexei Lvov called "The Russian People's Prayer". Known more commonly as "God Save the Tsar!". It was well received by Nicholas I, who chose the song to be the next anthem of Imperial Russia. The song resembled a hymn, and its musical style was similar to that of other anthems used by European monarchs. "God Save the Tsar!" was performed for the first time on 8 December 1833, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. It was later played at the Winter Palace on Christmas Day, by order of Nicholas I. Public singing of the anthem began at opera houses in 1834, but it was not widely known across the Russian Empire until 1837. "God Save the Tsar!" was used until the February Revolution, when the Russian monarchy was overthrown. Upon the overthrow, in March 1917, the "Worker's Marseillaise", Pyotr Lavrov's modification of the French anthem "La Marseillaise", was used as an unofficial anthem by the Russian Provisional Government. The modifications Lavrov made to "La Marseillaise" included a change in meter from 2/2 to 4/4 and music harmonization to make it sound more Russian. It was used at governmental meetings, welcoming ceremonies for diplomats and state funerals. After the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government in the 1917 October Revolution, the anthem of international revolutionary socialism, "L'Internationale" (usually known as "The Internationale" in English), was adopted as the new anthem. The lyrics had been written by Eugène Pottier, and Pierre Degeyter had composed the music in 1871 to honor the creation of the Second Socialist International organization; in 1902, Arkadiy Yakovlevich Kots translated Pottier's lyrics into Russian. Kots also changed the grammatical tense of the song, to make it more decisive in nature. The first major use of the song was at the funeral of victims of the February Revolution in Petrograd. Lenin also wanted "The Internationale" to be played more often because it was more socialist, and could not be confused with the French anthem; other persons in the new Soviet government believed "La Marseillaise" to be too bourgeois. "The Internationale" was used as the anthem of Soviet Russia from 1918, adopted by the newly created Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922, and was used until 1944. Post-1944 Soviet anthem The music of the national anthem, created by Alexander Alexandrov, had previously been incorporated in several hymns and compositions. The music was first used in the Hymn of the Bolshevik Party, created in 1939. When the Comintern was dissolved in 1943, the government argued that "The Internationale", which was historically associated with the Comintern, should be replaced as the National Anthem of the Soviet Union. Alexandrov's music was chosen as the new anthem by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin after a contest in 1943. Stalin praised the song for fulfilling what a national anthem should be, though he criticized the song's orchestration. In response, Alexandrov blamed the problems on Viktor Knushevitsky, who was responsible for orchestrating the entries for the final contest rounds. When writing the Bolshevik party anthem, Alexandrov incorporated pieces from the song "Zhit' stalo luchshe" ("Life Has Become Better"), a musical comedy that he composed. This comedy was based on a slogan Stalin first used in 1935 after the Ukraine famine and Moscow purges.18 Over 200 entries were submitted for the anthem contest, including some by famous Soviet composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Iona Tuskiya. Later, the rejected joint entry by Khachaturian and Shostakovich became Song of the Red Army, and Khachaturian went on to compose the Anthem of the Armenian SSR. There was also an entry from Boris Alexandrov, the son of Alexander. His rejected entry, "Long Live Our State" (Да здравствует наша держава), became a popular patriotic song and was adopted as the anthem of Transnistria. During the 2000 debate on the anthem, Boris Gryzlov, the leader of the Unity faction in the Duma, noted that the music which Alexandrov wrote for the Soviet anthem was similar to Vasily Kalinnikov's 1892 overture, "Bylina". Supporters of the Soviet anthem mentioned this in the various debates held in the Duma on the change of anthem, but there is no evidence that Alexandrov consciously used parts of "Bylina" in his composition. Another musical work has also been discovered, with identical or near-identical music, that long predates Alexandrov's 1943 involvement with the Anthem of the USSR. A Ukrainian Scouting (Plast) anthem from c. 1912, with music composed by Yury Piasetsky (Юрій Пясецький) known as "Plastovy Obit" (Пластовий Oбіт - The Plast Oath), to lyrics by Plast founder Oleksander Tysovsky (Oлександр Тисовський) has been noted by Plast members to bear an extremely close or identical resemblance to the later Russian/Soviet anthem. The music and words are found in various Plast handbooks and songbooks, and a performance of this song in 2012 can be viewed on YouTube. The first line reads: "V pozhezhakh vsesvitnykh, u lunakh kryvavykh" - "В пожежах всесвітних, у лунах кривавих". The Piasetsky-Tysovsky anthem actually glorifies the Ukrainian independence movement, which had the support of the Plast organization. Lyrics After selecting the music by Alexandrov for the anthem, Stalin needed new lyrics. He thought that the anthem was short and, because of the Great Patriotic War, that it needed a statement about the impending defeat of Nazi Germany by the Red Army. The poets Sergey Mikhalkov and Gabriel El-Registan were called to Moscow by one of Stalin's staffers, and were told to fix the lyrics to Alexandrov's music. They were instructed to keep the verses the same, but to find a way to change the refrains which described "a Country of Soviets". Because of the difficulty of expressing the concepts of the Great Patriotic War in song, that idea was dropped from the version which El-Registan and Mikhalkov completed overnight. After a few minor changes to emphasize the Russian Motherland, Stalin approved the anthem and had it published on 7 November 1943, including a line about Stalin "inspiring us to keep the faith with the people". The revised anthem was announced to all of the USSR on January 1, 1944 and became official on March 15, 1944. After Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet government examined his legacy and uncovered crimes he had committed against the Soviet peoples. The government began the de-Stalinization process, which included downplaying the role of Stalin and moving his corpse from Lenin's Mausoleum to the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. In addition, the anthem lyrics composed by Mikhalkov and El-Registan were officially scrapped by the Soviet government in 1956. The anthem was still used by the Soviet government, but without any official lyrics. In private, this anthem became known the "Song Without Words". Mikhalkov wrote a new set of lyrics in 1970, but they were not submitted to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet until May 27, 1977. The new lyrics, which eliminated any mention of Stalin, were approved on 1 September, and were made official with the printing of the new Soviet Constitution in October 1977. In the credits for the 1977 lyrics, Mikhalkov was mentioned, but references to El-Registan, who died in 1945, were dropped for unknown reasons. "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" With the impending collapse of the Soviet Union in early 1990, a new national anthem was needed to help define the reorganized nation and to reject the Soviet past. The Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, Boris Yeltsin, was advised to revive "God Save The Tsar" with modifications to the lyrics. However, he instead selected a piece composed by Mikhail Glinka. The piece, known as "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya", was a wordless piano composition discovered after Glinka's death. "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" was performed in front of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR on November 23, 1990. The song was decreed by the Supreme Soviet to be the new Russian anthem that same day. This anthem was intended to be permanent, which can be seen from the parliamentary draft of the Constitution, approved and drafted by Supreme Soviet, Congress of People's Deputies and its Constitutional Commission (with latter formally headed by President of Russia). The draft, among other things, reads that: ""The National Anthem of the Russian Federation is the Patriotic Song composed by Mikhail Glinka. The text of the National Anthem of the Russian Federation shall be endorsed by the federal law"" But conflict between President and Congress made passage of that draft less likely: the Congress shifted onto more and more rewriting of the 1978 Russian Constitution, while President pushed forward with new draft Constitution, which doesn't define state symbols. After 1993 Russian constitutional crisis and just one day before the constitutional referendum (i.e. on December 11, 1993) Yeltsin, then President of the Russian Federation, issued a presidential decree on December 11, 1993, retaining "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" the official anthem for Russia., but this decree was provisional, since the draft Constitution (which was passed a day later) explicitly referred this matter to legislation, enacted by parliament. According to Article 70 of the Constitution, state symbols (which are an anthem, flag and coat of arms) required further definition by future legislation.40 As it was a constitutional matter, it had to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Duma. Between 1994 and 1999, many votes were called for in the State Duma to retain "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" as the official anthem of Russia. However, it faced stiff opposition from members of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, who wanted the Soviet anthem restored. Because any anthem had to be approved by a two-thirds supermajority, this disagreement between Duma factions for nearly a decade prevented passage of an anthem. Call for Lyrics When "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" was used as the national anthem, it never had official lyrics. The anthem struck a positive chord because it did not contain elements from the Soviet past, and because the public considered Glinka to be a patriot and a true Russian. However, the lack of lyrics doomed "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya". Various attempts were made to compose lyrics for the anthem, including a contest that allowed any Russian citizen to participate. A committee set up by the government looked at over 6000 entries, and 20 were recorded by an orchestra for a final vote. The eventual winner was Viktor Radugin's "Be glorious, Russia" (Славься, Россия! ("Slavsya, Rossiya!)). However, none of the lyrics were officially adopted by Yeltsin or the Russian government. One of the reasons that partially explained the lack of lyrics was the original use of Glinka's composition: the praise of the Tsar and of the Russian Orthodox Church. Other complaints raised about the song were that it was hard to remember, uninspiring, and musically complicated. It was one of the few national anthems that lacked official lyrics during this period. The only other wordless national anthems in the period from 1990 to 2000 were "My Belarusy" of Belarus (until 2002), "Marcha Real" of Spain, and "Intermeco" of Bosnia and Herzegovina Modern Adaption The anthem debate intensified in October 2000 when Yeltsin's successor, Vladimir Putin, was approached by Russian athletes who were concerned that they had no words to sing for the anthem during the medal ceremonies at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games. Putin brought public attention to the issue and put it before the State Council. CNN also reported that members of the Spartak Moscow football club complained that the wordless anthem "affected their morale and performance". Two years earlier, during the 1998 World Cup, members of the Russian team commented that the wordless anthem failed to inspire "great patriotic effort". In a November session of the Federation Council, Putin stated that establishing the national symbols (anthem, flag and coat of arms) should be a top priority for the country. Putin pressed for the former Soviet anthem to be selected as the new Russian anthem, but strongly suggested that new lyrics be written. He did not say how much of the old Soviet lyrics should be retained for the new anthem. Putin submitted the bill "On the National Anthem of the Russian Federation" to the Duma for their consideration on 4 December. The Duma voted 381–51–1 in favor of adopting Alexandrov's music as the national anthem on 8 December 2000. Following the vote, a committee was formed and tasked with exploring lyrics for the national anthem. After receiving over 6,000 manuscripts from all sectors of Russian society,56 the committee selected lyrics by Mikhalkov for the anthem. Before the official adaption of the lyrics, the Kremlin released a section of the anthem, which made a reference to the flag and coat of arms: "Its mighty wings spread above us The Russian eagle is hovering high The Motherland's tricolor symbol Is leading Russia's peoples to victory — Kremlin source," The above lines were omitted from the final version of the lyrics. After the bill was approved by the Federation Council on 20 December, "On the National Anthem of the Russian Federation" was signed into law by President Putin on 25 December, officially making Alexandrov's music the national anthem of Russia. The law was published two days later in the official government Newspaper of record Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The new anthem was first performed on 30 December, during a ceremony at the Great Kremlin Palace in Moscow at which Mikhalkov's lyrics were officially made part of the national anthem. Not everyone agreed with the adoption of the new anthem. Yeltsin argued that Putin should not have changed the anthem merely to "follow blindly the mood of the people". Yeltsin also felt that the restoration of the Soviet anthem was part of a move to reject post-communist reforms that had taken place since Russian independence and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This was one of Yeltsin's few public criticisms of Putin. The liberal political party Yabloko stated that the re-adoption of the Soviet anthem "deepened the schism in Russian society". The Soviet anthem was supported by the Communist Party and by Putin himself. The other national symbols used by Russia in 1990, the white-blue-red flag and the double-headed eagle coat of arms, were also given legal approval by Putin in December, thus ending the debate over the national symbols. After all of the symbols were adopted, Putin said on television that this move was needed to heal Russia's past and to fuse the short period of the Soviet Union with Russia's long history. He also stated that, while Russia's march towards democracy would not be stopped, the rejection of the Soviet era would have left the lives of their mothers and fathers bereft of meaning. It took some time for the Russian people to familiarize themselves with the anthem's lyrics; athletes were only able to hum along with the anthem during the medal ceremonies at the 2002 Winter Olympics.